Andreas Klöden

Andreas Klöden

Personal information
Full name	Andreas Klöden
Nickname	Klödi
Born	(1975-06-22) 22 June 1975 (age 49) Mittweida, Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1]
Weight	63 kg (139 lb; 9 st 13 lb)[1]
Team information
Current team	Retired
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional teams
1998–2006	Team Telekom
2007–2009	Astana
2010–2011	Team RadioShack
2012–2013	RadioShack–Nissan[2]
Major wins
Grand Tours Tour de France 1 TTT stage (2009) Stage races Paris–Nice (2000) Tour of the Basque Country (2000, 2011) Tirreno–Adriatico (2007) Tour de Romandie (2008) One-day races and Classics National Road Race Championships (2004)
Medal record Representing  Germany Men's road bicycle racing Olympic Games 2000 Sydney Road Race Road World Championships 1996 Lugano Under-23 Time Trial

Andreas Klöden (born 22 June 1975) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 1998 and 2013.^[3] His major achievements include a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and finishing second in the general classification at the 2004 and 2006 Tour de France. Klöden was a tall, lightly built racer with enough strength to place high in the overall classifications of the Grand Tours, but his performances were affected by injuries.

Biography

Klöden was born in Mittweida in 1975.^[4] Before he turned professional, he won the bronze medal in the Under 23 World Time Trial Championships in 1996, and two stages at the International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt in 1997.

The T-Mobile years (1998–2006)

Klöden signed with Team Telekom (later T-Mobile Team) in 1998, and in his first pro season he won the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt's General classifications (GC) and the prologue of the Tour de Normandie.^[5] In 1999, he won a stage at the Portuguese Tour of Algarve. But the first of his great seasons came in 2000, where after notching two important victories in the GC of Paris–Nice and Tour of the Basque Country, he went on to obtain the bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, after fellow German Jan Ullrich and Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, two riders with whom he would spend several seasons on T-Mobile.

After that came three injury plagued seasons in which he gained no victories. He was forced to abandon the 2003 Tour de France due to a fractured tailbone.^[6] 2004 saw his cycling rebirth as he won the German National Road Racing Championships and so continued T-Mobile/Team Telekom's winning streak, which went back to Bernd Gröne's 1993 win of these Championships. Klöden held his great moment of form until the Tour de France, which began one week later. In that Tour, which he began as a domestique for Ullrich, he did not win any stage but finished second overall after taking second place from Italian Ivan Basso in the final time trial.^[7] Ullrich, whom Klöden was supposed to be supporting, finished fourth that year, the only time he finished outside the top three in the Tour de France. Finishing ahead of Ullrich brought Klöden international fame and rumours circulated that he was moving to Gerolsteiner or Illes Balears–Banesto, where he would have led the team, but instead he stayed at T-Mobile with Ullrich.

Klöden at the 2004 Tour de France.

In the 2005 season he won a stage at the Bayern-Rundfahrt. Klöden as well as teammates Ullrich and Vinokourov were considered among the challengers for the 2005 Tour de France overall victory, with Ullrich as the strongest bid. Klöden contributed to the team success of T-Mobile in the race that saw Ullrich finish 3rd and Vinokourov finish fifth. On stage 8 in the Vosges Mountains, he attacked halfway up the final climb of the day and eventually took the K.O.M. points, catching breakaway leader Pieter Weening right at the summit. On the way down to the finish in Geradmer, he lost the sprint finish in the closest Tour de France finish of all time – (9.6 millimetres or 0.0002 secs) until stage 7 of the 2017 Tour de France when Marcel Kittel beat Edvald Boasson Hagen ( 4.0 millimetres or 0.00003 secs).^[8] Later, he withdrew from the Tour at stage 17 into Revel, having crashed during the 16th stage and fracturing a bone in his right wrist.

In the Tour of 2006, Klöden became one of the favorites for the overall victory when Ullrich, Vinokourov and Basso did not start.^[9] Vinokourov did not participate because of his teammates doping scandal, which caused his Astana team to fall below the minimum six riders to start. After somewhat weak performances in the first mountain stages, Klöden was in good shape in the Alps, climbing in the overall ranking. Klöden was very strong in the closing time trial where he finished second after his teammate Serhiy Honchar, climbing from fourth to the third place in the general classification over Carlos Sastre. On stage 11 to the Pla D'Beret, Klöden was dropped by the leading group and lost about 1:30mins, which cost him dearly. On Stage 15, he performed strongly, dropping everyone, except eventual overall winner Floyd Landis. On Stage 16, Kloden again performed well, finishing fourth on the stage, however on stage 17, he again cracked on the Col de Joux Plane, but recovered on the descent, thanks mainly to the help given to him by teammate Patrik Sinkewitz.^[10]

The Astana years (2007–2009)

On 27 August 2006, Klöden announced that he would ride for Astana in the 2007 season, although Alexander Vinokourov was the team captain.^[11] This announcement came as something of a surprise to the cycling community because Klöden, despite his talent and accomplishments, would almost certainly not be the leader of that team, which was organized around Vinokourov. During the Tour de France, he rode well, but had to help Astana captain Vinokourov, and lost a few minutes. An accident almost saw the repeat of his 2003 Tour injury, but this time the injury to the coccyx was just a hairline fracture and he was able to continue.^[6] Astana formally withdrew from the 2007 Tour de France on 24 July, when Vinokourov's doping test was found to be positive.^[12]

His racing in September was interrupted by injury, following an accident while out training when a car crossed his path forcing him to swerve, Klöden ended up in a ditch. Although an X-ray showed no broken bones, he missed the GP de Plouay and the Tour of Poland.^[13][14]

His 2008 season was uneventful in grand tours though he won the Tour of Romandie that year and he came second in the Tour de Suisse. His 2009 Tour de France was mainly serving as a domestique for Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong though after stage 15 Kloden sat 4th overall. Kloden's podium chances closed in however on stage 17 when his teammate Alberto Contador put in a controversial attack dropping Kloden allowing the Andy and Fränk Schleck to gain over 2 minutes over him. He would later end up finishing 6th overall that year though he would end up moving into 5th overall after Lance Armstrong's titles were stripped.

On 2 October 2009 it was confirmed that Klöden would join Team RadioShack for the 2010 season^[15]

2009 Doping allegations

In 2009 allegations emerged claiming that Andreas Klöden used the Freiburg University Clinic for an illegal blood transfusion during the 2006 Tour de France.^[16] Later, Kloden and others of the T-Mobile Team, Matthias Kessler and Patrick Sinkewitz were confirmed by Freiberg doctors to have blood doped at the university during the 2006 Tour de France where their blood was held.^{[citation needed]} Under investigation Kloden made an agreement with german prosecutors to pay a sum to charity in return for the investigation being dropped.^[17]

At his retirement, Klöden denied that he ever used doping. He said he had made an agreement with prosecutors to stop the investigation because he felt that the investigation hindered his career.^[18]

The Team Radioshack Years (2010–2011)

Klöden had an uneventful 2010 season. He finished the 2010 Tour de France in 14th place 16’36" behind Contador. Contador was later disqualified, resulting in a 13th place 15'57' behind Andy Schleck. His other biggest finishes were 8th in Tour de Suisse and Eneco Tour.

2011 saw a rebirth of Klöden's career when he won the 2011 Tour of the Basque Country while also finished 2nd in Paris–Nice and getting a stage victory. He also had 2 ITT victories in Giro del Trentino and Critérium International. He carried his good form into the 2011 Tour de France but crashed and had to withdraw because of two crashes that injured his back. He later entered the Vuelta as co-leader with Brajkovic but withdrew.

RadioShack-Nissan (2012–2013)

In 2012, Klöden signed with RadioShack-NissanTrek. He finished the 2012 Tour de France in 11th place, 17'54" behind Wiggins. He also finished 4th in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.

Klöden continued to ride for Radioshack in 2013. He finished 9th in both the 2013 Volta ao Algarve and 2013 Paris–Nice early on in the season. His first top five finish came in the 2013 Tour of Belgium, where he finished fourth. He lost time early on in the Pyrenees in the 2013 Tour de France, forcing him to switch his goals from the general classification to stage wins. He made the breakaway on stage 16 to Gap, finishing in fifth place. He tried his luck again on stage 19 to Le Grand-Bornand. After finishing second there in the 2004 Tour de France behind Lance Armstrong; he finished second again, this time after Rui Costa who had also won the stage to Gap. He finished the Tour in 30th place, 1h02'43" behind winner Chris Froome.

In October 2013, Klöden announced his retirement from cycling after a sixteen-year professional career.^[3]

Career achievements

Major results

1996

3rd Time trial, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships

1997

1st Prologue & Stage 7b Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt

1st Stage 3 Flèche du Sud

1st Stage 4 Commonwealth Bank Classic

7th Time trial, UCI Road World Under-23 Championships

7th HEW Cyclassics

9th Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe

1998

1st Overall Niedersachsen Rundfahrt

1st Stage 3a

1st Prologue Tour de Normandie

1999

1st Stage 3 Volta ao Algarve

5th Overall Regio-Tour

2000

1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country

1st Stage 5b

1st Overall Paris–Nice

1st Stage 7

1st Stage 7 Peace Race

2nd Overall Deutschland Tour

2nd Overall Danmark Rundt

3rd Road race, Olympic Games

3rd Overall Regio-Tour

5th EnBW GP

5th Overall Setmana Catalana

2001

5th EnBW GP

8th Grand Prix Eddy Merckx

2002

2nd Overall Regio-Tour

5th Overall Sachsen Tour

2003

4th Overall Critérium International

7th Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

2004

1st Road race, National Road Championships

2nd Overall Tour de France

2nd Overall Bayern Rundfahrt

6th La Flèche Wallonne

6th Overall Deutschland Tour

2005

1st Stage 5 Bayern Rundfahrt

2006

1st Overall Regio-Tour

1st Stage 4

2nd Overall Tour de France

2007

1st Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

1st Overall Circuit Cycliste Sarthe

1st Stage 2

5th Overall Critérium International

5th Overall Bayern Rundfahrt

10th Overall Tour de Suisse

2008

1st Overall Tour de Romandie

1st Stage 3

2nd Overall Tour de Suisse

8th Overall Volta ao Algarve

2009

1st Stage 1 (ITT) Giro del Trentino

2nd Overall Tour de Luxembourg

3rd Overall Tirreno–Adriatico

1st Stage 5

4th Overall Tour de Suisse

5th Overall Tour de France

1st Stage 4 (TTT)

5th Overall Volta ao Algarve

2010

4th Overall Vuelta a Murcia

8th Overall Tour de Suisse

8th Overall Eneco Tour

8th Overall Volta ao Algarve

8th Overall Tour de Luxembourg

2011

1st Overall Tour of the Basque Country

1st Points classification

1st Stage 3 (ITT) Critérium International

1st Stage 1 (ITT) Giro del Trentino

2nd Overall Paris–Nice

1st Stage 5

5th Overall Volta ao Algarve

2012

4th Overall USA Pro Cycling Challenge

2013

4th Overall Tour of Belgium

9th Overall Volta ao Algarve

9th Overall Paris–Nice

General classification results timeline

Grand Tour general classification results
Grand Tour	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Giro d'Italia	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	DNF	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de France	—	—	—	26	—	DNF	2	DNF	2	DNF	—	5	13	DNF	11	30
/ Vuelta a España	DNF	62	DNF	—	DNF	—	—	—	—	—	20	—	—	DNF	—	—
Major stage race general classification results
Race	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
/ Paris–Nice	—	—	1	DNF	DNF	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	18	9
/ Tirreno–Adriatico	—	—	—	—	—	7	77	90	129	1	—	3	—	—	—	—
Volta a Catalunya	—	DNF	DNF	DNF	—	61	—	—	—	—	—	—	23	—	—	—
Tour of the Basque Country	—	69	1	—	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	—	—	—	—	18	1	—	—
/ Tour de Romandie	—	—	—	53	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	—	22	—
Critérium du Dauphiné	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	DNF	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Tour de Suisse	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	DNF	10	2	4	8	38	39	63

Legend

—	Did not compete
DNF	Did not finish

References

1. "Andreas Klöden profile". Archived from the original on 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
2. "RadioShack-Nissan-Trek announces lineup for 2012". VeloNews. Competitor Group, Inc. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
3. "Andreas Kloden retires after 16-year career including two podiums at Tour de France". Sky Sports. BSkyB. 24 October 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
4. "Andreas KLODEN : ASTANA". Yahoo Euro Sport. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
5. "Biography: Andreas Klöden". Velo News. Archived from the original on July 11, 2009. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
6. "Vinokourov soldiers on". Cyclingnews.com. 2007-07-13. Archived from the original on 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
7. "Armstrong makes history". BBC Sport. 2004-07-24. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
8. "A Winning Kazakh Attack!". Tour de France. 13 July 2005. Archived from the original on 9 August 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
9. Chris Hammer (2007-07-22). "TOUR DE FRANCE – RIDERS TO WATCH". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
10. "Landis Remarkable Maiden Stage Victory...!". Tour de France. 20 June 2006. Archived from the original on 31 July 2008. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
11. Susan Westemeyer (2006-08-27). "Klöden to Astana". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
12. "Vinokourov fails Tour doping test". BBC Sport. 2007-07-24. Archived from the original on 25 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
13. "Klöden plans on Poland, details crash". Cyclingnews.com. 2007-09-03. Retrieved 2008-09-11.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
14. "No Poland for Klöden". Cyclingnews.com. 2007-09-06. Archived from the original on January 17, 2013. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
15. Westemeyer, Susan. "Armstrong Looks To A Strong Tour De France Team", Cyclingnews.com, 2009-10-02. Retrieved on 2009-10-03.
16. "Klöden named in Freiburg report". Autobus.cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 2014-07-31.
17. "Klöden, German prosecutors agree to end investigation". Cyclingnews.com. 6 November 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
18. Been, José (9 January 2014). "Klöden: I understand why the doubts remain". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 12 November 2017.

External links

• Andreas Klöden on Twitter
• Andreas Klöden on the Homepage of his Team Radioshack